Vital Signs: And Down She Goes

When a woman collapses in the waiting room, a doctor acts swiftly to diagnose and treat a potentially fatal condition.

One morning as I looked out at the busy waiting room of my internal medicine practice, I watched a new patient, a trim, healthy-looking young woman, check in. Neatly dressed and in no obvious distress, she turned from the reception counter—and without warning collapsed onto the carpeted floor. No cry. No clutching of her chest or head. No weak-kneed stagger as she tried to make it to an empty chair. She just went down on the spot.I ran around the counter out to the waiting room, unwrapping my st...

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